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Monday, September 26, 2011

The Not so Lost Cyclists in Northern California

California started almost like a foreign country. After passing the welcome sign, we entered the fabled Agricultural inspection station. Many bicycle tourers have ended their trips here, being jailed for life sentences for trying to sneek a illicit cherry across the border. For us, the Fable Foursome, we simply got a smile and some free maps and were on our way. So be it.

Nor-Cal, or North California for some, started with the Del Norte county, where farm lands and wild coast lines dominated the days leading up to the coastal Redwoods, the tallest trees to live on this planet. Lets talk a bit about the Redwoods. They are massive. They are the biggest collection of bio-mass (life/energy) on this planet. When you are in a redwood old growth forest, of which 5% is left, you are in the middle of the most alive place on Earth. In life, a redwood tree can support about 1,700 species, form it's base to the canopy. In death, a redwood tree can support about 4,300 species. They are prime examples of the absolute full cycle of this planet, of how life and death are both intricate, important parts of the cycle. We mourn death, while we should celebrate, both the soul/energy of the person whom we shared many times with, and the life that all death ultimately supports.

We traveled for a while along the rugged, sea stack littered coast line before entering the national and state parks that make up the Coastal Redwoods.  We biked amongst giants that towered above us.  We gazed like children up, lost in the magical grip that these massive, seething trees exude.  We felt small, humble, prayed over by the quiet giants.  being amongst the redwoods is feeling like a child struck in constant awe, silent by the majesty of it all.


Then the lost coast happened.  On the map, it looked like a nice scenic detour along the coast, a few miles out of our way, and in theory flat riding.  Nice.  Plans, like civilization, is built upon a faulty foundation and can so easily crumble.  It turned out to take us 2 days, over 60 miles, and the hardest, steepest climbing i have done on this trip.  Hours of climbing over the friendly sounding, Rainbow Range, and we started the death descent down the hill known locally as "The Wall".   A near vertical descent over the worst road on Earth, it makes the roads in Utica seemed paved in gold.  After breaking: a pannier screw, brake arm, and crushing my headset bearings, we were blessed by bike touring divine intervention.  Taking the smart way down, Christine rolled up in a pickup truck with our saviors for the day, Jib and Jane who lived just in the next town of Petrolia, with a little ups and downs in the way.  Turned out to be 20 miles and more difficult hills before i rolled exhausted into their house where we camped for the night.  Another tough day of climbing had us on the Avenue of the Giants for some of our last redwood riding.  We have been along the coast since, with foggy days where only the sounds of the crashing waves 100's of feet below let you know there is a cliff close by, with sweeping vistas of the wave battered rocky shoreline, from the fennel growing wild on the road, to the people and places, sights and the sounds, we have traveled along the fabled north coast of California, and just now took a dip along the Russian river to Occidental and a day of rest.

From here, we four pull into San Fransisco for our last days together.  Christine must return to Vermont, where the sun does shine but not like it does here in California.  Andrea heads south too, but her timeline is different and we probably will say Auf Wiedersehen to Andrea.  Me and Chris will head to Big Sur and then make our way through the lush valley of California and north to Yosemite.  There we will pass into the Mojave desert as we cruise on down to the lowest point on this trip, Death Valley

Eduardo and the Dog are doing well, a little tune up today and some wheel rotation has us feeling juicy.  Check out all the photos at picasaweb.google.com/rossbikepics, check out Chris's blog at http://reallylongbiketrip.blogspot.com/, and let your self have the freedom to love, and love the freedom that you have.

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